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I threw this together recently for dinner when it was over 100 degrees outside. Didn’t feel like a hot meal, and definitely didn’t feel like turning on the oven or spending a lot of time at the stove. The only cooking required is for the quinoa and that’s super quick, especially if you have a pressure cooker in which it quinoa takes 5 minutes at high pressure.

This is a great dish to share at a potluck, picnic, or for this coming weekend, a Labor Day BBQ. It holds up well in the fridge for a few days; the sauce/dressing soaks in quite a bit but the flavor is still there. Delicious on its own or on a bed of lettuce.

I realize I have a brownie recipe on this site already but you can never have too many brownie recipes! This one is my favorite and really easy to make. I’ve made them for dessert aficionados and non-vegan foodies alike and neither could believe they 1) were made with black beans and 2) weren’t made with refined sugar, oil or eggs like most brownies. If you like peanut butter I recommend using it here, even though the flavor in the finished product is mild. If you don’t like it or can’t have it, by all means use almond butter or the nut/seed butter of your choice.

This recipe came to me while I was working out, as many recipes do (I should be thinking about the workout and not food, I know!). I wanted to throw something together for an easy lunch and this is what I came up with. They are easy to make but taste like they were a lot of work. They’re moist but hold together well. Really yummy. I like serving them with avocado and Sour Un-Cream, or my Toasted Pepita Avocado Sauce as pictured.

But I wouldn’t consider selling my offspring for the last bar on earth as some people I know might. It’s good. I enjoy a quality piece of dark chocolate or a chocolatey dessert as much as the next girl, but when I like chocolate best is when it’s paired with something else, for example, peanut butter, raspberry, or in this case PUMPKIN!

If you’ve never had chocolate and pumpkin together, you’ve been missing out! The warm spices we associate with pumpkin taste great with the rich chocolate. This recipe calls for healthy whole foods like black beans and pumpkin, uses very little flour, and no refined sugar or oil, and no eggs or dairy of course. The only not-so-healthy part is the chocolate chips but we only use 1/4 cup. I really like to use the Wonderslim cocoa powder as it’s lower in fat and caffeine than typical cocoa powder.

These delicious morsels are a cross between fudge and a brownie, hence the name Fudgy Brownies. They are so rich and sinful tasting, it’s amazing they are low-fat, contain very little flour, no refined sugar, and BLACK BEANS. That’s right, black beans. A whole can. I know it’s weird, just work with me. And be sure not to tell anybody until AFTER they tell you how awesome the brownies taste. 🙂

What the heck is that plant? Is it beets? Is it spinach? No! It’s chard, or Swiss chard to which its often referred. This leafy green is one of the healthiest plants you can eat. It comes in green and white, green with yellow stalks, or the type I grow, green with beautiful red stalks. Foods belonging to the chenopod family—including beets, chard, spinach, and quinoa—continue to show an increasing number of health benefits not readily available from other food families. Containing powerful antioxidants and phytonutrients beneficial for all aspects of health, this amazing vegetable is an important component to the diet. And, it tastes great!

Swiss chard and kale growing beautifully in my Tower Garden!

I never knew what the heck to do with chard before I started growing my own. I grow it in my amazing aeroponic Tower Garden, which I absolutely love. I never had success with growing my own food before. The feeling of going out back to grab some homegrown chard, a few cucumbers, some kale and lettuce, or some strawberries, is like none other! I had read that chard was easy to grow so I bought the seedlings and in no time, I had these gorgeous, huge, green and red leaves ready to be eaten. The young, smaller leaves are good raw, but the mature leaves are too “green” tasting and bitter for me. I much prefer them cooked. The way I prepared them yesterday is my favorite so far. Up until then I had just steamed them, and eaten with a little sea salt and lemon juice, or added to pasta with marinara sauce. I’ve enjoyed all preparations, but this one is the winner so far.

I’m not proud of this, but when I was in junior high, I ate taquitos from the cafeteria nearly every day. I don’t even want to think about what they were filled with, but I just loved them; mostly for the crunchy corn tortilla and the green dipping sauce with which they were served. We won’t even talk about the Hostess mini crumb donuts I ate too. Geez. Gotta love the offerings in school cafeterias. Sad to say it’s no better 30 years later. Did I just say that? 30 YEARS? “sigh”.

Anyway, I digress…sorry. As we all know, traditional taquitos are deep fried. We also know deep fried foods = bad news. I set out to create a plant-based taquito that I could bake, but would still be crunchy. I don’t cook with oil as a rule, but for form and function, a small amount was required for this to work. I tried it without. Fail. However, I was amazed how such a small amount could make a difference. 1 tablespoon of olive oil or less for the entire batch of 12 taquitos. Not bad. Since these taquitos are filled with potatoes, I’m calling them paquitos. 🙂

Chili. Not the most creative dish, and almost everybody knows how to make it. There are a gazillion recipes out there, and I’ve tried many of them (the ones without meat, of course). For whatever reason, I’ve never been completely satisfied with any of the chili dishes I’ve made, whether I followed a recipe or made it up myself. I always felt like there was something missing, and I couldn’t describe or figure out what that something was. Also, I always made it too spicy, and as I’ve said many times, I’m a spice wimp. All this changed last night. Finally!

The mushrooms and cauliflower may sound like strange additions but trust me, they work. You can’t really taste them but they add a nice texture and I’m sure contribute to the overall flavor. The real secret in the great flavor, I believe, comes from the baked beans and liquid smoke. The fresh corn is a great addition, especially now when corn is in season. Add more chili powder and maybe some cayenne if you like your chili spicy. Try it and let me know what you think.

Never have I made these when they weren’t loved by all. When I first created them, I couldn’t decide if they should be called burritos or enchiladas. Ultimately I decided they were a combination, hence the name “enchilito”! Several of the ingredients listed are brand specific but I’ve no doubt these would still be delicious regardless of the brand.

Since I advocate a primarily whole-foods diet, I’ve listed the meat (Soyrizo) and cheese (Daiya) substitutes as optional. While these foods are tasty, they are processed and contain oils. Use them sparingly, if at all, and save them for situations in which you’re serving to a meat-eating crowd or if you yourself are slowly attempting to move towards a more plant-based diet. This dish is plenty flavorful without those ingredients, but for the transition process, small amounts of mock meats and cheeses can be helpful.